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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25268491">A Loose Stitch</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandora151/pseuds/Pandora151'>Pandora151</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anxiety, Blood and Injury, Gen, Hurt Anakin Skywalker, Master &amp; Padawan Relationship(s), Obi-Wan Kenobi Needs a Hug, Padawan Anakin Skywalker, Poor Obi-Wan Kenobi, Post-Star Wars: The Phantom Menace</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 07:42:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,161</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25268491</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandora151/pseuds/Pandora151</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In the beginning, Bant had been so sure that Obi-Wan would fall apart at some point from the grief, but he held himself together, somehow.</p><p>Until now.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bant Eerin &amp; Anakin Skywalker, Bant Eerin &amp; Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan Kenobi &amp; Anakin Skywalker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>231</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Loose Stitch</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello!  I wrote this for last year's Whumptober and decided to post it here.</p><p>Enjoy! :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Help!”</p><p>Bant looked up from her holopad, eyes widening at the sight before her.</p><p>With bright and frantic eyes, Obi-Wan carried the limp form of his Padawan in his trembling arms.  The frenzied worry emanating from his Force presence was a clear departure from the carefully constructed calmness she had seen from him ever since Master Qui-Gon died a few months ago.</p><p>In the beginning, she had been so sure that Obi-Wan would fall apart at some point from the grief, but he held himself together, somehow.</p><p>Until now.</p><p>Jumping out of her chair, Bant rushed over to her friend, signaling to the Padawan healer to get a stretcher.</p><p>“What happened?” she asked, noting that Anakin was unconscious, his breaths pained and uneven.  There was blood soaking his right sleeve, a <em>lot </em>of it—enough to make her think that he had somehow nicked an artery.</p><p>“I’m not sure,” Obi-Wan replied, voice coming out in a rush.  “I haven’t been able to find him all day.  I only just found him like this in the main hangar a few minutes ago.  It must have been an accident with one of the droids he was repairing, but…Bant, he’s losing a lot of blood.  I don’t know how long he’s been unconscious, or what exactly—”</p><p>“Obi-Wan,” she said firmly, stopping him before he pulled himself into some sort of a nervous breakdown.  “It’s alright.  We’ll take care of him.”</p><p>She hadn’t seen him get this worked up in <em>years</em>, probably not since Master Tahl’s death and the damage it brought to Obi-Wan’s relationship with his Master.</p><p>A part of her had previously thought that he was handling everything really well, but now, it was obvious that the calmness was all a front.</p><p>She only wished she figured it out earlier.</p><p>The stretcher arrived just then, and Obi-Wan carefully deposited Anakin onto it.  Bant took a few steps to follow before turning back to see Obi-Wan staring at her, eyes wide and desperate.</p><p>“I’ll let you know once we have an update,” she said, reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder.  “Don’t worry, alright?”</p><p>Obi-Wan let out a breathless laugh that trembled slightly.  “He’s my Padawan,” he replied.  “I have no choice but to worry.”</p><p>Pressing her lips together, Bant nodded, rushing back over to the stretcher.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Bant found Obi-Wan still in the waiting room an hour later.  There were dried blood stains on his robes, and his face was drawn and pale, revealing a sort of exhaustion she hadn’t noticed earlier.</p><p>When she approached him, Obi-Wan looked up at her expectedly.</p><p>Bant sat down next to him and smiled gently, projecting reassurance into the Force.</p><p>“Anakin will be alright,” she said softly.  “The cut was long and deep, and I had to give him a few stitches.  He lost a fair amount of blood, which was why he was unconscious.”</p><p>“But what happened?” Obi-Wan asked, voice cracking.  “I only left him alone for a few hours; I didn’t think anything like this would happen.”</p><p>“It looks like an accident,” Bant said, shrugging slightly.  “Did you see anything sharp around him in the hangar?  A knife, a sharp piece of metal?”</p><p>Obi-Wan’s eyebrows furrowed.  “I don’t remember,” he murmured.  “I just saw him unconscious, and my first thought was to just…”</p><p>Swallowing, Obi-Wan moved his hands up to scrub at his face.</p><p>“Oh, Force,” he murmured, voice muffled.  “I don’t—”  He cut himself off with a sudden, sharp breath, kneeling forward to place his elbows on his knees.</p><p>A shudder passed through his frame as he curled into himself, breathing rapidly.</p><p>“Obi-Wan?” she asked gently, reaching over to place a hand on his shoulder, trying to ground him.</p><p>Her friend shook his head, and under her hand, she felt his shoulder tense.</p><p>“He could have <em>died</em>,” Obi-Wan whispered.  “I can’t—that can’t happen, Bant.  I don’t…I won’t be able to take it; I can’t even think about the possibility.”</p><p>It made sense—after losing Master Qui-Gon so horribly, Obi-Wan had to have felt a level of protectiveness over his padawan.</p><p>“He’ll be alright,” she said soothingly, projecting calmness into the Force.  She squeezed his shoulder gently.  “It was a minor injury; these things happen, Obi-Wan.”</p><p>Nodding slowly, Obi-Wan pulled his hands away from his face and took a few deep breaths.  The tremors seemed to have stopped, though Bant still felt a sense of frenzied anxiety flowing from his Force presence.</p><p>“Do you want to see him now?” Bant asked.</p><p>Obi-Wan nodded again and pulled himself up to his feet.</p><p>Together, they walked out of the waiting room.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The first thing Anakin noticed when he woke up was that his right arm <em>really </em>hurt.  Blinking, he stared down at it, surprised to see it wrapped in heavy bandages.</p><p>“Anakin?”</p><p>Anakin jumped at the whispered voice, turning towards Bant, who smiled at him.  She brought a finger up to her lips, gesturing to the chair next to him.</p><p>Obi-Wan sat with his head tucked into his chest, fast asleep, breaths soft and even.  His Master was a bit of an insomniac, so it was a bit odd to see him asleep now, especially in the middle of the day.</p><p>“It looks like you accidentally cut yourself while working in the hangar,” Bant explained quietly, gesturing towards his arm.  “We had to give you a few stitches, since you were losing a fair amount of blood.”</p><p>Anakin nodded.  He remembered…the hangar, then pain.  Lots of it.</p><p>Then darkness.</p><p>Bant looked at Obi-Wan and smiled softly.  “He was really worried,” she continued.  “It’s…Losing Master Qui-Gon was really difficult for him, as I’m sure you know.”</p><p>Anakin nodded again.  He’d seen the grief, as much as his Master tried to hide it.  The sleepless nights, the quick moments when Obi-Wan would look <em>so </em>sad and desperate, whenever he thought Anakin hadn’t been looking.</p><p>“I know,” he replied.</p><p>“Just…be careful, alright?  For Obi-Wan.”</p><p>Right.  He could do that.  How difficult could it be?</p><p>At some point, Anakin dozed off, waking up later to Obi-Wan looking intently at a datapad.</p><p>“Master?” he croaked, and Obi-Wan turned to him, eyebrows raised in bright relief.</p><p>“Anakin,” Obi-Wan said, putting the datapad on the table next to him and leaning forward to examine him carefully.  “You’re alright.  I—”</p><p>Tears slipped out of Obi-Wan’s eyes, sliding down his cheeks.  Anakin felt a jolt of surprise rush through him.  A part of him thought that Obi-Wan just didn’t have tear ducts or something.  The man <em>never </em>cried—he didn’t even do it during or after Master Qui-Gon’s funeral.</p><p>“Please, don’t do that again,” Obi-Wan murmured, rubbing quickly at his eyes.  “I cannot <em>lose </em>you, Anakin.”</p><p>“You won’t, Master,” Anakin replied, keeping his voice firm and sure.  “I promise.”</p><p>Of course, the next time Anakin would see Obi-Wan cry would be right after he broke that promise on the burning shores of Mustafar, plunging the Force into terrible darkness.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading! :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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